Mike Pennel, Tanoh Kpassagnon among unsung heroes from Chiefs versus Titans

The Kansas City Chiefs win over the Tennessee Titans in the AFC Championship was truly a team effort with plenty of unsung heroes. We wanted to highlight a few.

Patrick Mahomes deserves every bit of the spotlight he’s going to receive in the days and weeks to come. Other stars, especially on offense, like wide receiver Tyreek Hill and tight end Travis Kelce will also find themselves often talked about by NFL analysts and fans. Even Frank Clark and Tyrann Mathieu will be the subject of discussion on the defensive side. That’s all well and good since those Kansas City Chiefs players deserve anything coming their way.

That said, football is certainly a team game, so we wanted to take a bit and honor some of the unsung heroes from Sunday’s win over the Tennessee Titans, the game that helped deliver an AFC Championship to this team. The Super Bowl is on the way, which will allow for plenty more heroic moments, but for now, we’re proud to see what these unheralded contributors were able to bring in a winning effort.

Mike Pennel

Mike Pennel has been a revelation ever since the Chiefs first signed him in the second half of the year to help bolster the team’s run defense. While he plays sparingly, Pennel makes the most of his appearances with at least one key stop each game, and the team’s win over the Titans was just another example.

Early in the third quarter, the Titans were driving and the Chiefs were trying to hold them from running for a seemingly easy first down. Pennel came up big on successive stops to keep the Titans at bay and the Chiefs up by four. From there, the Chiefs were able to get the ball back and score which gave them a two-possession lead.

Pennel seems to do this every game at one point or another, earning fans as a lunch-pail guy willing to do the dirty work in the middle. Together with Derrick Nnadi, he’s helped to shore up the team’s run defense from the pitiful unit trotted out in 2018.

Tanoh Kpassagnon

Frank Clark is the vocal leader. Chris Jones was the big story. But it was Tanoh Kpassagnon who ended up putting up the most sacks on the day for the Chiefs against the Titans.

Kpassagnon certainly enjoys the ability to play next to Clark and Jones among others, but we’ve all watched the Villanova product slowly blossom all season long in Steve Spagnuolo’s scheme and under Brendan Daly’s tutelage. This year, Kpassagnon has put in a solid year as a part-time starter with 11 quarterback hits and 4 sacks for the Chiefs and seems ready to truly break out in 2020 (contract year).

On Sunday, Kpassagnon had two sacks of Ryan Tannehill along with two more QB hits and a pass breakup. We’ll just leave things here and move on.

Daniel Sorensen

With each passing week, Daniel Sorensen shows us why he’s remained a favorite of the coaching staff for the Kansas City Chiefs. In fact, it’s quite possible he finishes up a second contract with them when all is said and done.

Sorensen is just one week removed from single-handedly helping the Chiefs get back into the game against the Houston Texans with a sniffed-out fake punt and forced fumble on special teams. This week, he decided to deliver a message to Ryan Tannehill that the Chiefs were ready to take things over.  With the Chiefs only up by four points, here’s how Sorensen slowed the drive:

Sorensen also had one pass breakup and 8 total tackles

Offensive Line

It’s impossible to pull just one lineman away from the entire unit known as the Chiefs offensive line, but the quintet deserves to be noticed overall for their rock-solid job against the Titans on Sunday.

Patrick Mahomes was kept quite clean against Tennessee despite the Titans having a solid defensive front with pass rushers like Jurrell Casey, Jeffery Simmons, and Harold Landry. After the initial sack to start the game by Kamalei Correa, the Titans only had 1 more sack of Mahomes on the day and the line played much better as the game wore on.

Even more, the Chiefs offensive line played mistake-free football. The Chiefs racked up 9 total penalties on the day, from Bashaud Breeland’s pass interference to multiple early jumps by the defensive line. However the Chiefs offensive front never once drew a flag. That’s good to see from the trenches at least on one side, and a sign of a great job by a group who was likely overlooked.